The Airdrie Martial Arts Centre will be hosting a kickboxing tournament on Saturday, May 11 with seven local competitors.

Trial by Fire 8, will be held at the Westin Calgary Airport hotel, located at 671 Aero Drive NE.

Preliminaries will start at 2 p.m., with the main event at 6 p.m.

“There will be five adults competing and two seven-year-old fighters,” said coach Luis Cofre, who has been with Airdrie Martial Arts for the last 12 years.

“These kids have been training really hard for the last two and a half months to get ready for this competition.”

Cofre encourages anyone who has never seen a kickboxing event to come and check it out for some family-friendly fun.

“It’s exciting to watch, especially when it’s done at a high level,” he said.

“We pride ourselves on demonstrating proper kickboxing skill. The kickboxing community is very good at teaching their fighters the skills they need to perform well. The atmosphere is really great. It’s all based on mutual respect between competitors.”

The two youngest fighters will be taking part in their first sanctioned competition, which Cofre said they have worked hard for.

“I enjoy seeing the transformation in my students and watching their personal growth as they meet challenges and overcome them,” he said.

“The skills they build will not only be used in competition, but throughout their lives.”

Visit airdriemartialartscentre.ca for more information or to purchase tickets.

Tickets are $25 each for adults and $15 for kids for the preliminaries, and tickets start at $45 for the main event.